Trapped
by Eiedolon
Summary: Come along with our hero, Cloudix, as he struggles to survive and retain his general sanity when he is ensnared by the game. An unknown enemy, a surprising friend, and many more plot twists.


Chapter One

I tumbled out of the darkness into a much brighter place. So bright in fact that it burned my eyes. Luckily for me, the burning sensation didn't last long. Of course, that was because I had face-planted into the dirt. At least I was being positive.

I groaned loudly, picking myself up onto my hands and knees. My mouth ached from where I had bit down on my lip when I landed, and I spit out a fat glob of blood onto the grass below me. Everything around me smelled very natural, the air was much cleaner than I had ever smelled. In New York, all you could ever smell was the toxic, acrid odor of car exhaust wherever you went.

I rubbed my tired eyes with the heels of my palms as they adjusted to the light and I forced myself to stand. I stretched, feeling several quick pops from my arms, back, and chest, forcing me to sigh as I let out a pent up breath. It was then that I got my first good look around me.

"What the fuck…?" I whispered softly as I turned in a slow circle, taking in my surroundings.

I was in the middle of a green, mostly flat field that was covered sparsely with patches of tall grass and wildflowers, and I happened to be standing on the one small knoll in the middle of the area. In one direction there was a forest of short, rather square looking trees. The leaves came off the trunk in little cubes, making them look blocky. In the opposite direction, across the meadow, was a series of huge, jagged square sun climbed higher into the sky lazily behind them, silhouetting an animal of some sort that was perched at the top of one of the highest cliffs.

I figured I must be dreaming. How else could I have suddenly appeared inside of a computer game? I glanced up and I could see a tag floating a few inches above my head reading "Cloudix". I sighed quietly. I didn't want to pinch myself, because that seemed a bit too cliche. But then I remembered that after my rough landing, I had spit up blood from a cut in my mouth. I raised my fingers to my mouth and probed the area, finding it sore and swollen. I winced as a sharp pain ran through my lower lip. Well, that answers that question, I thought to myself. I wasn't dreaming. I could feel the small incision begin to heal itself, and within moments it was like it had never been there at all. Well, that's convenient, I thought. I sat on a small stone outcropping behind me.

"Okay, Cloudix. You're in a video game. And not just any videogame; it's Minecraft. The game where at night, grotesque creatures stalk out of the darkness to try and murderfy your face," I thought to myself as I buried my head in my hands. "There's several options. I could jump off of a cliff and hope it sends me out of here, but that idea doesn't seem to be altogether too pleasing. There's always the 'curl-up-into-the-fetal-position-and-cry' tactic, but that's usually a last resort. Well, it is a survival all I have to do is survive?" I thought out loud. With a heavy, burdened sigh, I got up from my seat and started sprinting down the blocky grass slopes to the forest on the other side of the field.

When I reached the line of trees, I realized that I didn't exactly know how to break them. So, with a sense of logic that I prided myself on, I ran up to the nearest tree and slugged it with all my strength. To my surprise, a little block of wood appeared on the ground, floating and spinning. I walked closer to examine it, and as if by some incredible force of gravity, it was sucked into thin air, and suddenly a small backpack appeared strapped around my shoulders. I shrugged, muttering "game logic" and continued to maul trees with a ferocity that could make a salad twinge.

After I had knocked a few trees down, I opened up my backpack to find my vision swimming for a moment before settling on a large gray table. In this table were a stack and a half of woode, seven oak saplings, and, to my great surprise and pleasure, a shiny red apple. It was much simpler than I thought it would be to craft things. All I really had to do was will my items into their respective slots and they appeared there. Almost like the world knew what I was thinking. Dismissing that disturbing notion, I created a random number of sticks and crafted myself a new wooden pickaxe.

I put it into the first slot of my inventory and I watched in awe as it materialized onto my belt pixel by pixel. I gave the mental command to close the inventory.

After punching my way into the ground, I took my pick from its place at my belt and started digging out a small space of stone, collecting enough to get started on what I wanted to do. Plopping down my crafting table I made myself a set of stone tools, and one by one they, too, formed at my belt. I climbed out of my hole to find the sun beginning to fall in the sky. Trying not to panic, I thought through my options. I didn't have a bed, so I couldn't sleep. There wasn't enough time to build a house, so that was out of the question.

In the end, I decided to climb back into the hole that I had created and I sealed it up with a few blocks of dirt. It wasn't long before I could hear the moans and creaking of the undead from outside of my dirt prison. Sighing, I crafted a furnace and put two blocks of wood into it. The room around me lit up with a light glow, and I could feel warmth emanating from the fire that was turning my wood into a piece of charcoal. I took the charcoal out and crafted some torches with it to light up the small area. I sat next to my now cooling furnace to debate my next plan of action.

Well, I could sit and wait for the sun to come back up, but who know's how long that could be? Do day and night cycles stay true to the twenty minutes it takes playing the game traditionally? Or does one minecraft day equal one Earth day? I thought to myself. I could hear the clicking and clacking of a skeleton's bones somewhere above my head. If i want to keep from going insane, It's probably best if I don't sit around and listen to them.

Getting up from my none-too-comfortable spot on the stone floor, I took my pick and started digging down into the ground, creating a staircase two blocks wide. I eventually came across some coal, and then a small bit of iron as well, but not enough for anything more than a tool or two. I went back up after a while and set my prized iron ore into the furnace. I sat down once more to begin thinking of an appropriate plan of action.

It's going to be a lot tougher from here on. Enemies will spawn and creepers will be around every corner. I'll have to watch my back. I need to gather resources, especially wood and stone. I'll also need to mine for large quantities of iron before I move on to anything else. I'll need armor and weapons and tools and other things. I'll have to gather seeds and water and build a farm. Maybe there's a village somewhere nearby, I could get potatoes and carrots, and maybe I can find a good trade or two. Although probably not. The sounds of skeletons and zombies burning outside grew louder in my ears. I removed the iron ingots from the furnace. I'll build a house and traps and a farm! I'll build a whole town! A city all for me! I rushed to the bench, quickly crafting myself an iron sword. I raised it above my head triumphantly. And nothing in this world can stop me! I rushed forward, digging my way out of the dirt and up to the surface as sunlight broke through the blocks, burning my eyes. I scurried out of the hole.


End file.
